I forgot how to blog...

I have not blogged for 6 weeks and I don't remember how!! Do I come up with a topic and stick with it? Is that a thing? I don't think that's a thing. I think people's thoughts jump around like bunnies in Spring. And it IS Spring. So stream of consciousness and random thoughts, here goes!

I play an online game in which you need to fit a set number of tile arrangements into a big 9 x 9 tile square. Is it unreasonable for me to take a violent dislike to any column of five tiles - horizontal or vertical? I really do NOT like those five tile rows in a deeply personal way. 

Dana Simpson just came out with Book 13 of Phoebe and her Unicorn, Unicorn Famous.  What will happen when Phoebe ages out of the believing in unicorns thing? Maybe I do NOT have to worry about this, actually, since Phoebe is no more real than her fabulous friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. Simpson should get an award for naming unicorns.

Why are books about orphans who live in great big old buildings so popular? (I linked to Ally Carter's first Winterborne Home book but you don't have to think hard to come up with another one.) I get the orphan part. Having no parents sets the character free of any expectations or parental protections. At the same time, it's so sad!

And why big - as in city block big - and old? OK! That doesn't take too much imagination. But, I believe that setting a foundling school in one of the growing number of abandoned malls or strip malls might be intriguing.  Those buildings have back passages that the general public never see.

Wait! That reminds me of the Hobie Hanson books by Jamie Gilson. When their school got flooded, Hobie's school moved into a series of empty stores in the mall. I loved those books but I bet they are dated now. I have to let Goodreads know that I read every one of them - as an adult - (because I am old). People who read these books as kids might even have children of their own who are graduating from secondary school soon - maybe.

Loss... When we lose an author we adored, even though that writer was really old and deserved some rest, it is HARD. Beverly Cleary was over 100. Sid Fleischman was in his 90s. But they were supposed to keep writing until my grandchild had grandchildren. It might be time for me to read Ramona and her Father again - or By the Great Horn Spoon.

I made my LAST book review presentation at the Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference on Saturday. This year, I worked with Mary Hyson, who loves to talk about books more than I do and who works with books for middle grades and YA every working day. I don't do that anymore, because - see paragraph 6.

Anyway, if you want to see our awesome slide show click here. 

I am all tired out from jumping all over the place. The view out my window is beautiful. I hope your view is, too.

Our tulips in the late afternoon. In the morning they are even more glorious.

 

 

10 Ways to Open a Chapter

LBB wants to add "Things I Am Sorry I Did" to the chapters in HIS book.

The trend to open each chapter in a novel with something only tangentially related to the action or to the main characters is spreading like wildfire.

In the past, this was a rarely used technique to grab readers' attention.  Now, those tidbits increase readers' understanding of the characters, the action, even the tensions in the novel.

These "starts" are different from the titles, or warnings, that 19th century authors placed at the beginning of each chapter...i.e., "In which Miss Irmegarde Discovers the Truth of her Heritage and We visit a Country Church."

Here are some of the items that might run across the top of each chapter heading:

1.  Odd Facts:  If the book is about sailing, or mountains, or the sea, these odd facts may reflect that.  In You Go First, Charlotte's chapters are headed by odd facts that distracted her. In Honeybees and Frenemies, the facts seem to be about bees.  Makes sense.

2. Journal entries.  These can be tongue-in-cheek - or sketchy reflections of much more detailed events, then chronicled in the chapter.  OR entries from someone else's journal that mirrors or widely differs from the main character's experience.

3. Snippets of poems or songs.

4.  Advice from old books or advice columnists, real or imagined.

5. Items from a list - any list at all;  grocery list, To Do list, list of real or imaginary animals,  places to visit, skills to learn, etc.

6. Observations from a case study - awesome if the book is about illness of any kind - or about an exploration.

7. Recipes - or the beginnings of recipes.

8.  Quotes from manuals or directions -

9. Rules from games, or codes of conduct.

10. Dates of events, real or imagined.

To be honest, I LIKE these openings.  I sometimes like them as much as the book itself.

Look around for these clever hooks.  How do you feel about this trend?

12 Favorite Book Families

 I finished The Penderwicks At Last by Jeanne Birdsall.  Thank you, Ms. Birdsall, for reminding me of endless summer days of pretending and running and spinning and tracking and...all those things we can do when we are not quite teens. 

1.  The Penderwicks are one of my all time favorite Book Families.  The blended family of His; Rosalind, Jane, Skye and Batty; Hers, Ben; and Theirs, Lydia, grows over the five book series.  Neighbors become lifelong friends or banished enemies.  Summers are long and idyllic when not beset with possible runaways, thieves and sibling disagreements of the mild kind. School years are beset with classroom anxieties and friendship struggles.  

2.  The Casson Family (Start with Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay)  - Mom, Dad, Cadmium, Saffron, Indigo and Rose.  This "artistic" family and their neighbors delve into all kinds of problems from finding one's passion to finding one's soul mates.  The adventures start when Saffron suspects that she is actually a cousin, instead of a sister and she sets off to Italy (!!!!???)  with her neighbor and best friend to learn the truth.  Oh, the madness never stops with these four.

3. The Conroy sisters - also by Hilary McKay.  Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe appear on the scene when they are shipped off to Big Grandma's for the summer, hence the title of their first book, The Exiles.   Phoebe, the youngest, is intractable and endlessly creative in indicating her displeasure.

4.  The Fitzgerald-Trouts from Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding. Kim, Kimo, Peppa and Toby are sort of related to each other.  No matter, they live in a car on the beach and every now and then, one or the other of their assorted parents hands over some cash.  The kids look after themselves, cooking, washing their clothes, getting to and from school.  But when the older kids' legs get too long to sleep comfortably in the car, the four head off to find a real home.  There are two books about this crazy family.

5.  The Incorrigibles.  Start with the Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood.  What list of favorite book families is complete without siblings raised by wolves?  Miss Penelope Lumley, barely more than a girl herself, has been hired to teach the three Incorrigibles how to behave like regular children.  They were found in the forests that surround Lord Ashton's estate.  All three children, Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia, are delightfully smart, brave and loyal although their speech is punctuated by howls.  Their governess is beyond reproach and quite a lot of fun.

6. The Applewhites.  Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan.   Jake Semple has one last chance to keep out of Juvie and that's as a foster child at the artists' colony/school run by the Applewhite family.  Every single Applewhite, - parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, the lot - has some kind of artistic genius - except for E.D.  Their talents make them absolutely worthless in the real world.  So it is up to E. D., who has a special genius of her own, and Jake, who fits in better than he likes, to keep the "school" afloat.

7. The Stanleys.  (The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder).  David and his three siblings welcome Amanda, their new stepsister, into the family in this first book of four.  Amanda studies witchcraft and beguiles them all.  Then ghostly things begin to happen in their new house, where a ghost decapitated the wooden cupid at the foot of the banister.

We can't forget THESE families, either...

8.  The Blossoms by Betsy Byars. (Not-Just-Anybody Family). Pap is supposed to be watching his grandkids while their mother is traveling with the rodeo. But how was he to know that Junior would try to fly off the barn roof?  Then, HE gets picked up for littering when the tailgate of his truck comes loose.  And Maggie can't get in touch with her mother.  Sounds sad?  It's a hoot.  All the Blossom family books are.

9. The Moffats by Eleanor Estes, Mrs. Moffat has her hands full trying to keep a roof over the heads of her brood.  But they all help whenever they can, keeping an eye out for each other, doing odd jobs, learning to read and write, creating museums and other great stuff.

10. or the Melendy family by Elizabeth Enright. While their widowed father works in the city during the week, the Melendy children are left home with the gardener and loving housekeeper to explore the countryside, rescue an abused neighbor who becomes their brother, travel into the  city on the weekends and create games and codes and mysteries.

11. or the five children or Five Children and It by E. Nesbit.   I enjoy them best because of the sand fairy and the adventures he/she sends them on.  Still without these five siblings we'd never have this classic fantasy.  (Alas, I don't know their names.  I did once.  But I've forgotten.)

12. OR - and here I am showing my age - the Pepper family of Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney.  Totally old-fashioned, earnest and full of "family values", these fatherless children manage to help their struggling mother keep body and soul together while having plenty of "scrapes" and "adventures". 

Unforgettable! The Green Brothers

John Green is impossible for book lovers to forget.  He wrote "The Fault in Our Stars", for heaven's sake!!!

But before the amazing event that "The Fault in Our Stars" became, John was - and still is - one half of the Vlogbrothers!  The other equally AWESOME half of Vlogbrothers is the clever, lyrical, amazingly fast-talking, Hank Green.  HANK WROTE A BOOK!  Must. Pre-Order. Now.

NOTE!  NOTE!  NOTE!    THIS IS NOT "LET'S NOT FORGET"!  NOTE!  NOTE!  NOTE!
Mainly because, these guys are UNFOGETTABLE!

I remember those days, back in, oh 2007 or 2008, (Vlogbrothers began their YouTube odyssey in 2007 according to this Wikipedia article), when I stumbled on the online community, Nerdfighters.  I had just read "Paper Towns" and was suitably impressed.  (Also, "An Abundance of Katherines".  I laughed so hard.) I wanted to know more.  John and Hank had moved their Vlogbrothers videos to this online group.  I was hooked and became a Nerdfighter so I, too, could "fight world suck" and DFTBA. (Don't Forget To Be Awesome).

Life sometimes intervenes.  In John Green's case life was the overwhelming success of "The Fault In Our Stars" and the movie of the same name.  The Nerdfighter online social media outlet gently went away.  (Actually, nerdfighter.ning.com is still in existence.  It's just different and not very communal.)

In my case, I got distracted.  I retired.  I became a grandmother.  My Dad got sick; then he turned 90; and then he died.  My Mom turned 90 - still here.  I got another job.  My brother came home from Japan.  (Check out what we did while he was home.  I work this in WHEREVER I can. )  Then he moved back to Japan.  And I wondered what happened to Nerdfighters.   I needed their craziness, their nerdiness and their good-ness. (I miss my brother, Dan.  I feel a Barry Manilow song - or an Elton John song - coming on.)

NERDFIGHTERS DO NOT GO AWAY!

No, World, we are still out there, doing our best to survive and remain steadfast in our pursuit of knowledge and all things Nerd!  We also volunteer, donate, create projects that fight world suck, though Project for Awesome or in other ways.  You have heard what I've been up to.  Under One Sun Benefit and Chiles' Play.  There are so many other people out there, enjoying books, helping to make a better world.

I found Hank and John Green again.  I am so happy.  They are fun to watch, fun to listen to.  I have to dig my Hank Green CD out and listen to "Accio Deathly Hallows", again.

Check out their twice weekly YouTube channel where they discuss EVERYTHING in 3 or 4 minute blasts.  John posts on Tuesday.  Hank posts on Friday.   Check the right hand sidebar; the first three and four are productions of these overactive men.

Or just head over to Nerdfighteria to catch up with all that the Green Brothers have done.

Just remember, they are human, after all.  And life, like I said, intervenes.  So if things aren't as up to the minute as you might like, browse the archives.  Or go find a Project to be Awesome with.

And read their books!  John's latest is Turtles All the Way Down.  Hank's first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, comes out this year.

Thanks, Hank and John Green!

Ready for Christmas???

Last Minute Christmas Gift Alert!

I have found the PERFECT (where are the little jingle bells stickers???) book for every one who can safely turn pages - from 4 to all grown up.  I    AM    SERIOUS!

This Book Is a Planetarium by Kelli Anderson will intrigue absolutely anyone with a soul. (OK, I can think of one soul owning person who will not be that excited but, other than that character..)  This pop-up book (which is why the reader must turn pages safely) transforms into SIX (6), yes, that's SIX different tools.  You use your cell phone's flashlight app to power the planetarium.  There is a stringed instrument inside, a spiralgraph, a speaker for your tablet, a decoder ring and a perpetual calendar.

I have the book right here on my desk, still wrapped in plastic.  As long as it stays wrapped, its promise is intact.  I will open it on Christmas day.  On New Year's Eve, I plan to gaze at the stars.

 Meanwhile:
The Squirrel family and their snowy friends are stationed at the window watching for snow - or elves - or jingle bells - or anything Christmasy.

But not Little Blue Bunny.  He had to write his letter to Santa.

He thought of some other stuff he wanted.  He wanted a real bunny - because D has asked for one.
He wanted a dragon that can fly without Nana helping it.

On ToyTV, Little Blue Bunny saw a commercial for texting Santa.  You entered SANTA and the text went straight to the North Pole. 
Warning to all toy owners out there: This text action will result in a hefty pretend charge on your phone bill. (Also, it's not true, ok?)

Little Blue Bunny got MY cell phone and sent a text asking for the dragon and the bunny.  AND I got the hefty charge.  Oh, was I angry!  I told my friend, Nutsa Squirrel (LBB's Mom), about it right away and Little Blue Bunny is on dish washing duty until the New Year to earn money to pay me back.

But Wait!  There's MORE.  I got an email confirming the delivery of the DRAGON to my house on Thursday.  The dragon had already shipped.

D flew into action.  She spun around and pooof! shimmer! sparkle! we were in Wizard World.  I was Queen Apple Orchard and D was Princess Apple Blossom.  Little Blue Bunny was Little Blue Wizard, not that he was much help.

Using her Future Ball, Princess Apple Blossom went into the future, found the dragon, cancelled the order and returned the dragon to his den.  A pre-Christmas catastrophe was averted by quick and clever magical thinking.  What would we do without Princess Apple Tree?



I am not at all sure why LBB is in the Christmas cactus or riding the space shuttle we got him.  He's probably trying to avoid doing the dishes.  Wait until he sees what Santa plans to bring him!  I am hugging myself with glee here.

Hey, if I don't post before Christmas, have a great holiday.  All you Hanukkah'ers out there, I hope you had enough latkes and gelt and celebrated the miracle of faith.

Let's not Forget - Friday - Betsy and Eddie

So, who remembers Eddie?  Or Betsy?

They were stars in their day.  (Does anyone remember "Betsy's Little Star"?)

Carolyn Haywood (1898 - 1990) wrote 47 books about every day kids doing every day things.  They were free range kids, sort of, wandering the neighborhoods, playing with friends, making grandiose plans of the Leave It To Beaver variety.

These truly were the perfect first "chapter" books for second, third and fourth graders - accessible, interesting and easy to relate to.

For instance, in Eddie the Dog Holder, Eddie and a friend go into business painting dog portraits.

I picked the oldest book covers I could find.

Eddie gets to hold the dog while his friend does the portrait.  Just imagine how this rather inspired business could go awry.

In Haywood's New York Times obituary, (also referenced above) a reviewer, Phyllis Fenner, is quoted as saying this about Haywood's books. "...Carolyn Haywood makes the everyday doings of children exciting and funny, entering into them from a child's level. That is sheer genius and can't be done by calculation."

 It is hard to find Carolyn Haywood's books in print today.  But check your public library.  These books are still readable and fun.

BTW, does anyone remember Phyllis Fenner's great story collections?


APOLOGIES:
(I vegged yesterday. No excuse. At all. None.)

Climate Change - or Cleaning House?

I know people who think climate change is just part of the earth's cycle - or a hoax - or unconquerable.   It boggles my mind that it even matters.

The Earth is our HOME.  I don't let garbage pour over the sides of the containers. I don't spray the air with toxic chemicals, or smoke, or fumes. I don't add lead to my drinking water. I don't breed bacteria on my leftovers. I don't dig holes in my backyard to get at rocks and other things I might need and then let the holes create an unsightly mess and hazards.  Do YOU?? 'Course not.

Think about this.  When The Lorax was written, the terms "global warming" and "climate change" were not even in common usage.  The campaign to keep earth livable is not new.

IT. JUST. MAKES. SENSE. TO. KEEP.  OUR. HOME. CLEAN.

Rant over.

I don't understand climate change as well as I'd like. Here are books and book lists to help explain the effects and causes of climate change. And some that give us ideas on how we can take action.

Climate Change: Discover How It Impacts Spaceship Earth by Erin Twamley and Josh Seideman.  STEM and STEAM aficianados will enjoy this illustrated guide.  It includes 25 projects to increase students' and readers' understanding of the science of climate change, planetary movement, solar system....

Even Goodreads has a list of kids' books that explore climate change and pollution.

Crystal Ponti posted a list of 10 books about Climate Change over on parent.co.  There is some repetition, but still a great list.

I really like Inhabitots Earth Day post.  The books featured here are all about cleaning up the world.  This site is well-designed, colorful and useful and the 6 books featured are accessible to even our youngest earth cleaners.

And for all you grown-ups out there.
Climate Change and Children is a report out of UNICEF that will make your eyes tear up.  The Resource List offers articles and books that support UNICEF's claims.  This report is for grown-ups but share it with your older students to support discussions on possible solutions.

Ibuprofin and a cool wet blindfold

In the last 48 hours I have read:

The Magic Mirror by Susan Hill Long;   (fairy tale style fantasy, pretty good) 3 1/2 stars

The Black Dragon : Mysterium #1 by Julian Sedgwick;  (rock 'em, sock 'em, fast-paced underworld crime novel set in Hong Kong to be continued, of course.) 3 stars

The Storyteller by Aaron Starmer; (last of what may be a psychological thriller trilogy, or it may be a study in mental illness, or alternative fiction.  This entry is good enough to read to the very end but I don't need to know what went before.) 3 stars

Swing Sideways by Nanci Turner Stevenson.  (friendship/family relationship novel.  I just finished this one and am tempted to say more.  Tragedy rears it's ugly tissue wielding head at the end.  Sigh.) 3 stars

Earlier this week, I finished As Brave as You by Jason Reynolds( No one has a terminal illness in this book.  YAY!!!!!  Two city boys spend the summer at the family farm with their dad's parents.  Family stuff, brother stuff, city boys in the country stuff and growing up stuff.) 3 1/2 stars

Mayday by Karen Harrington.  (Uncle dies.  Family flies to funeral.  Mom and son are in airplane accident.  Granddad is sick.  There you have it.)  3 1/2 stars

Oh and a little cozy mystery novella and I started an Aunt Dimity novel that I never read. 

My eyes hurt.

But let me say this.  I have decided that I will fight the urge to give any book that deals with C.A.N.C.E.R. more than 3 1/2 stars.  As a survivor, I am well and truly tired of books that use cancer to manipulate their readers.  The book better have me prostrate on the floor weeping; or feeling so uplifted I want to sing before I will give it 4 or 5 stars.  But, that's just me.

Reviews? - Hah!

The Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference looms larger and larger in my sight.  So, I am reading, reading, reading, reading like a mad woman - who reads a lot.   Once again, I am reviewing books for kids in grades 5 and up.  And I have read very few of the "hot" new YA titles.  I am not all that into the "hot" topics of paranormality, sexual awakening, and personal torment.  That's ok.  When I finally pick those books up, I am sucked in almost as much as teen readers are.

Is this not the loveliest KUCLC poster ever?  I think so.

What this means, is that I will not review books on this site - much - for the next three or four weeks.  but I will LIST what I have read.

Beetle Boy by M. G. Leonard
Trash Mountain by Jane Yolen
Nick and Tesla's Solar-Powered Showdown by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith

And because I deserve to read adult books once in awhile, Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen.

Sign up for KU's Children's Literature Conference TODAY!!

Book update

1.  Battle of the Kids Books begins tomorrow.  I did not get to read the two contenders in this first match up but I predict... nothing.  Check back later.

2.  Here are the books I have read in the last two - or so - weeks.
     Grayling's Song by Karen Cushman
    It Ain't So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas
    The Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander
    The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder 
   Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
   Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts  by Esta Spalding
   
Also, Strangeways to Oldham by Andrea Fraser - but that is an adult murder mystery.  Still, I read it and it was a good old fashioned "cottage" mystery with adult tricycles, a stolid butler and a hilarious cast of characters.

All of these books - except for the murder mystery - are e-galleys. Sorry, you can't read them yet.  I enjoyed them all.  They are a mix of styles and genres - some fun, some suspenseful, some heartbreaking.  I will review several, if not all, in future posts.

Gon. Backson

I was gone.  Now I am back.  And while I was gone I read OLD books; two by G. K. Chesterton and two by L. M. Montgomery - because I visited Prince Edward Island on my travels.

Chesterton's books were full of the politics of the Empire and, since they were pre-WWII, some of the reasoning seemed very Old Boy network.  Still, they were intriguing looks into a mindset that is probably better done away with.

Montgomery's books were full of light and cheerfulness - as is her wont.  The first, Pat of Sugar Bush, ended as if there would be more to the story.  And I hope there is, somewhere.  The other, A Tangled Web, was written for adults and read like a daytime soap opera.  Six or more couples, friends and lovers, struggle to find out what went wrong - or how to connect - or whatever.  The last line in the book is a glaringly racist remark and soured things for me.  But I recognize the time period and context and just wish people were more thoughtful.  I enjoyed the book except for that.

Obviously, I enjoyed L. M. Montgomery's books more than Chesterton's.  I don't even remember the names of Chesterton's books, oh wait, The Man Who Knew Too Much, was one title.  That book was upsetting because the hero of the short stories finds himself letting felons go unpunished for the good of the Empire - in every single instance.  Also, some anti-semitic rhetoric in one story made me cringe.

Oh well, I came home to Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt.  I will read it and let you know what I think.

Bits & Pieces

Book Expo has opened registration for their 2015 event.  May 27th through May 30th - Wednesday through Friday.  No Saturday.  I wonder if Saturday will be BookCon and only BookCon.  We will see.  Anyway go to www.bookexpoamerica.com for the latest Book Expo news.

I read Way Down Deep by Ruth White.  I read the sequel first so this felt like catching up.  Still, very good.
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin.  I am so in awe of Ann M. Martin.  Period.
Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen.  What is not to like about a baby centaur and a community that tries to protect one?
I started The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.  It has no trace of hope in it and that creeps me out.  BUT, I did just start the book.

BTW, for some strange reason, Blogger will not let me add links today.  So you will have to search for these books online yourselves.  Sorry.  (Except for Book Expo.  That link works.)

And that's all, folks!

Thankful for....

OK, books I have read recently that I have to review.  (Not all in one day, although I read one yesterday and one today.)

I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora

Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Almost missed this! Ivy and Bean

It's still October 18th!  So we can still celebrate those friends-to-the-end, Ivy and Bean.
Check out all the fun here.

Confession

I do not want to read books written for teens.  I do not want to read new books.  I want to snuggle down with Winnie-the-Pooh and Uncle Wiggily.

 I want to revisit the flood in which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water and the boat made of an overturned umbrella.

I can not get interested in road trips made by fledgling adults, or the struggles of young people whose best friends have all moved away.  I want to to find Goldbug on every page.  I want to meet Anne Shirley again for the first time.

And I want to sail on the pirate ship with Obadiah, the Bold, chant "Not I!" with the dog and the mouse and the cat - or is it a rooster?

It is the waning of summer, a time of nostalgia and I want to go back, go back, go back to the first time I opened Little Men.

This, too, shall pass.  Toddlers turn to school children.  Tigers turn to butter and I will turn to new books some time.

But not right now.

Bad Week for Book Lovers

Barbara Park (66) and Charlotte Zolotow (98) both passed away this week.  No more Junie B. Jones.  No more books like William's Doll.

I am grateful for the love and toil these two women poured into the books they wrote and edited over the years - for the laughter and joy and poetry and understanding they sparked in young readers.

Hooray for their lives!  Hooray for the gifts they have left behind!  And hooray!  Some of their readers will become writers and the legacy will continue.

If the World Was a Village

When the book If the World Was a Village by David J. Smith came out in 2002, I was intrigued.  The author imagined the world as a village of 100 people and then he showed how many would have enough to eat, safe places to live, money to spend and how many would have less.  The book is visually appealing and makes the sharing of the world's resources accessible to young readers.

A second edition of the book will come out in February, 2014.  Order your copy now!

Check out David Smith's website, Mapping.com, for lots of free info on geography. 

Books at Play

Grace Lin -KBWT

It's Tuesday!! Time for a Kids' Book Website.

Check out  Grace Lin's website.  Grace wrote Starry River of the Sky, which was a Battle of the Kids Book contestant.  I loved it.  But I have liked Grace's picture books and chapter books for several years.  Her Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was a Newbery Honor Book.

Her website offers activities based on her books, Chinese lessons, a link to her blog and a bio.

And here is a book trailer for her novel for 3rd and 4th grades, Dumpling Days, the third novel about a Chinese American girl named Pacy.

Book Awards and BoB

I feel so much better.  Do you know why????

Battle of the Books Brackets have been chosen.  I knew there was a good reason to return to the land of ice and wind and Internet access.  i just knew it.

Here they are:

Once again, I have read some, but not all, of the books.  I have direction!  I have purpose!  I have a goal.  I love Battle of the Books.

Now, the brackets are chosen BEFORE the American Library Association announces their Book Award Choices - which ALA did last Monday right before I re-learned body surfing on a Caribbean beach.

For the complete ALA approved list of Newbery Award winners, here you are.

Caldecott Winners, click here.

To check on all the other awards - for best children's non-fiction, or YA book, or social justice book, concept book, go to the ALA Book Awards page and click on the individual links.  There are just too many great books written for young people.

If you go to BoB's current post, you will see how well the Brackets match the ALA Award winners.  As always, judge's comments and the Peanut Gallery responses will be some of the best blog-reading of the year. 

Oh, I wonder when we get to vote for the Undead.  Or, gasp, has that vote been cast?  And who will be this year's awesome author/judges?  So many questions!  So many books!  So little time!  Excuse me, I have to put books on hold at the various libraries of which I am a member.